1,000 names will not count says council official

Responding to a question by Councillor Fergus Hood at last night’s Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan meeting in Kintore School, a council official said that the 1,000-name Gateway Kintore petition would not count as a representation in the consultation for the 2016 plan.

Piers Blaxter, Structure Plan Team Leader at Aberdeenshire Council, said that the Gateway Kintore petition would not be considered because it had not been submitted during the consultation period. If people wanted to make a representation on the proposed supermarket development, they would have to re-submit their views by January 31, next year.

While admitting that the Gateway Kintore site had the best chance of securing the backing of one of the supermarket operators, Mr Blaxter said he could not support it.

Children, he said, would not be able to walk to the supermarket.

He also expressed concern that, if the site were approved, because it was a mixed development, the supermarket, filling station, restaurants and hotel could be dropped and replaced with business units. Steve Crawford for Halliday Fraser Munro, the architects who prepared the Masterplan responded that he believed the council had adequate measures to prevent this.

Mr Blaxter explained that the development of Kintore was constrained in the north of the town by three pipelines, including a high-pressure gas pipeline. This was why the Kintore East development had been proposed, because, other than crossing the A96, there was no other way to expand the town.

Although Kintore was expanding south and east, Mr Blaxter explained that the site for the station was at the north end of Northern Road. For a supermarket he favoured a site near the proposed station.

He said he could envisage people arriving at Kintore Station and “heading for a pint, then staying in the station hotel”.

Other matters that arose included medical services. Mr Blaxter asked if there was a medical centre in Kintore. Councillor Hood confirmed there was but said there were concerns that the new medical centre in Inverurie could lead to closure in Kintore.